The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(December 2010) |
A garage sale (also known as a yard sale, tag sale, moving sale and by many other names [1] ) is an informal event for the sale of used goods by private individuals, in which sellers are not required to obtain business licenses or collect sales tax (though, in some jurisdictions, a permit may be required).
Typically the goods in a garage sale are unwanted items from the household with its owners conducting the sale. The conditions of the goods vary, but they are typically usable. Some of these items are offered for sale because the owner does not want or need the item to minimize their possessions or to raise funds. Popular motivations for a garage sale are for "spring cleaning", preparing to move home or earning extra money. The seller's items are displayed to the passers-by or those responding to signs, flyers, classified ads or newspaper ads. In some cases, local television stations will broadcast a sale on a local public channel. The venue at which the sale is conducted is typically a garage; other sales are conducted at a driveway, carport, front yard or inside a house. Some vendors, known as "squatters", will set up in a high-traffic area rather than on their own property.
Items typically sold at garage sales include old clothing, books, toys, household decorations, lawn and garden tools, sports equipment, and board games. Larger items like furniture and occasionally home appliances are also sold. Garage sales occur most frequently in rural and suburban areas on weekends with good weather conditions, and usually have designated hours for the sale. Buyers who arrive before the hours of the sale to review the items are known as "early birds" and are often professional restorers or resellers. Such sales also attract people who are searching for bargains or for rare and unusual items. Bargaining, also known as haggling, on prices is routine, and items may or may not have price labels affixed. Some people buy goods from these sales to restore them for resale.
Some jurisdictions require that the home owners obtain a permit (which may require a fee), stating the date(s) on which the sale will take place (with allowances in the event of bad weather conditions). The jurisdiction may also place restrictions on the sale, such as the number of sales in a year a person can have (so as to avoid a person running a business without licenses and without collecting sales taxes), where signs may be placed in and around the neighborhood, and even where on the owner's premises a sale may take place.
Advertising for the event of a garage sale is typically done by posting a sign, usually made from cardboard or plastic, in a public location. Signs are posted with the intent that people passing by will take note of the event, time, and location of the garage sale. In many cases, signs may feature an arrow or some other means of expressing the direction of the event.
In addition to signs, many people advertise their garage sales in the newspaper in a dedicated section or on websites. [2]
In some areas, garage sales have taken on a special meaning to a community and have become events of special local significance. Large areas of a community then hold a communal garage sale involving numerous families at the same time.
The Highway 127 Corridor Sale, promoted as "The World's Longest Yard Sale", encourages private individuals and professional vendors to conduct simultaneous yard sales along a 630-mile (1,010 km) corridor spanning five U.S. states. [3] The headquarters is located at Fentress County Chamber of Commerce in Jamestown, Tennessee. The sale officially starts the first Thursday of August. However, many sellers in the area will start the weekend before.
Running east to west, the Coast-to-Coast yard sale runs along U.S. Route 50 in May of each year. Though not as popular as "The World's Longest Yard Sale", the US 50 Coast-to-Coast sale is in its 16th year. [4]
During the second Saturday in August, a 50 miles (80 km) stretch of U.S. Route 11 becomes a continuous yard sale from Stephens City, Virginia's Newtown Commons south to New Market, Virginia. [5] The event, in its ninth year, [6] is sponsored by the Shenandoah County Chamber Advisory Group, five chambers of commerce, and two town governments. [5] In years past, the Yard Crawl has attracted people from as far away as Canada. [5]
In Bondi Beach, Australia, the first Garage Sale Trail took place as part of the Sizzle Bondi Community Festival on May 9, 2010, [7] during which 126 garage sales occurred simultaneously. The Garage Sale Trail was designed to reduce the amount of goods dumped instead of sold and re-used. Since the first event, the Garage Sale Trail has won a Green Globes award for Media Excellence, [8] and the Wentworth Courier 's Business Achiever award. [9] In July 2010, organisers of the Garage Sale Trail announced their intention to take the Garage Sale Trail national and involve thirty local councils across Australia's states and territories potentially making it the largest garage sale in the world. [10]
The now semi-annual City Wide Garage Sale [11] was first held in October 1990 in El Cerrito, California. Local resident and reuse advocate, Marianne Hegeman proposed the citywide garage sale to facilitate garage inspections in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. City Wide Garage Sales have been replicated in other cities including Albany, California; [12] Mountain View, California; [13] and Eagle Mountain, Utah. [14]
Informal sales also occur across the country. One such example is in the Bismarck-Mandan area. Coinciding with the United Tribes International Pow-wow, it is a tradition for the weekend following Labor Day to be the area's biggest garage sale weekend due to the influx of visitors in the area. On any given year, total garage sales number at least 500, while Fargo, North Dakota surpasses Bismarck as the state's largest city. The only state event that is bigger is the North Dakota State Fair held in Minot, North Dakota, during the last week of July.
The cultural phenomenon of garage and yard sales in the United States has been examined by several artists. The Thunderground Film production Zen and the Art of Yardsailing is a documentary film produced in 2004 that covered aspects of finding bargains as well as the cutthroat practices of professional resellers and the previously-noted "early birds". New Jersey artist Robert A. Emmons, Jr.'s short documentary film Yard Sale, released in 2006, examines the American practice of buying and selling goods in one's front yard and the sociological impact of such activities. [15] [16] [17]
Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A typology of shopper types has been developed by scholars which identifies one group of shoppers as recreational shoppers, that is, those who enjoy shopping and view it as a leisure activity.
Stephens City is an incorporated town in the southern part of Frederick County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 2,016 at the time of the 2020 census, and an estimated population of 2,096 in 2022. Founded by Peter Stephens in the 1730s, the colonial town was chartered and named for Lewis Stephens in October 1758. It was originally settled by German Protestants from Heidelberg.
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. A period during which goods are sold for a reduced price may also be referred to as a "sale".
The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer, and indicates the options for the customer to make payment. It is also the point at which a customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or after provision of a service. After receiving payment, the merchant may issue a receipt, as proof of transaction, which is usually printed but can also be dispensed with or sent electronically.
A flea market is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously owned (second-hand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal' and 'casual' markets which divides a fixed-style market (formal) with long-term leases and a seasonal-style market with short-term leases. Consistently, there tends to be an emphasis on sustainable consumption whereby items such as used goods, collectibles, antiques and vintage clothing can be purchased, in an effort to combat climate change and fast fashion.
An estate sale or estate liquidation is a sale or auction to dispose of a substantial portion of the materials owned by a person who is recently deceased or who must dispose of their personal property to facilitate a move.
Car boot sales or boot fairs are a form of market in which private individuals come together to sell household and garden goods. They are popular in the United Kingdom, where they are often referred to simply as 'car boots'.
A tax holiday is a temporary reduction or elimination of a tax. It is synonymous with tax abatement, tax subsidy or tax reduction. Governments usually create tax holidays as incentives for business investment, although the arrangement has also been characterized as a form of corporate welfare that leads to a redistribution of resources away from smaller businesses and private citizens and towards monopolies and other forms of consolidated wealth.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG) or convenience goods, are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, beverages, toiletries, candies, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, dry goods, and other consumables.
Sales taxes in the United States are taxes placed on the sale or lease of goods and services in the United States. Sales tax is governed at the state level and no national general sales tax exists. 45 states, the District of Columbia, the territories of Puerto Rico, and Guam impose general sales taxes that apply to the sale or lease of most goods and some services, and states also may levy selective sales taxes on the sale or lease of particular goods or services. States may grant local governments the authority to impose additional general or selective sales taxes.
A jumble sale (UK), bring and buy sale or rummage sale is an event at which second hand goods are sold, usually by an institution such as a local Boys' Brigade Company, Scout group, Girlguiding group or church, as a fundraising or charitable effort. A rummage sale by a church is called a church sale or white elephant sale, frequently as part of a church bazaar.
Self storage is an industry that rents storage space, also known as "storage units," to tenants, usually on a short-term basis. Self-storage tenants include businesses and individuals.
Rock crawling is an extreme form of off-road driving using specialized vehicles ranging from stock to highly modified, to overcome obstacles. In rock crawling, drivers typically drive highly modified four-wheel-drive vehicles such as trucks, Jeeps, and "buggies" over very harsh terrain. Driving locations include boulders, mountain foothills, rock piles, mountain trails, etc.
Consignment is a process whereby a person gives permission to another party to take care of their property and retains full ownership of the property until the item is sold to the final buyer. It is generally done during auctions, shipping, goods transfer, or putting something up for sale in a consignment store. The owner of the goods pays the third-party a portion of the sale for facilitating the sale. Consignors maintain the rights to their property until the item is sold or abandoned. Many consignment shops and online consignment platforms have a set time limit at which an item's availability for sale expires. Within the time of contract, reductions of the price are common to promote the sale of the item, but vary by the type of item sold.
A closeout or clearance sale is a discount sale of inventory either by retail or wholesale. It may be that a product is not selling well, or that the retailer is closing because of relocation, a fire, over-ordering, or especially because of bankruptcy. In the latter case, it is usually known as a going-out-of-business sale or liquidation sale, and is part of the process of liquidation. A hail sale is a closeout at a car dealership after hail damage.
First Monday Trade Days is a monthly flea market held in Canton, Texas. The market is actually held on the Thursday through Sunday preceding the first Monday of each month. It purports to be the largest and oldest continually operated flea market in the United States, and is a highly popular event in the area. Depending on the time of year, up to 100,000 shoppers frequent the fair in a weekend.
Bryn Mawr is a neighborhood within the Calhoun-Isles community in Minneapolis located directly west of downtown Minneapolis. It is in Ward 7, represented by council member Katie Cashman.
A second-hand shop is a shop which sells used goods.
A mock auction is a scam usually operated in a street market, disposal sale or similar environment, where cheap and low quality goods are sold at high prices by a team of confidence tricksters.
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale is a role-playing game developed by Japanese dōjin maker EasyGameStation for the Windows operating system. The game follows a young girl named Recette, who is charged by the fairy Tear to run an item shop out of her house to pay off the considerable debt her father had accumulated before his mysterious disappearance; the eponymous shop is a portmanteau of the lead characters' names. In the game, the player controls Recette in several areas of gameplay, including bargaining and haggling with clients for goods, and accompanying an adventurer into randomly generated dungeons to acquire goods to sell, with the goal of paying back the debt within a fixed deadline.
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